Protecting Life's Greatest Illusion
by sivy96
Summary: When the Dark Brotherhood adopts a new member under unusual circumstances it quickly becomes apparent that with anger and revenge fueling her she has no intention of following the sacrament and the Nightmother's wishes easily. *Trigger Warning: Depictions of rape*
1. Chapter 1

It was so cold. Dawnstar was always cold, the only place that was worse was Winterhold. That was the issue of living in northern Skyrim though, may as well have been Tamriel's ass. Tending the bar at Windpeak Inn was never difficult, in fact it was a dream, while there was the occasional drunken patron that had to be knocked around. There was always plenty of food and mead, plus it brought in a decent amount of Septims.

"Roseline!" The familiar voice brought her out of her thoughts, she looked up and saw her friend Irgnir.

"Irgnir, what are you doing out so late? You'll catch your death out here." Roseline pulled her shaw tighter at the thought.

"Things at the mine have been busy ever since Beitild met her fate, lot of late nights around here, at least we can sleep peacefully now though."

Roseline scoffed at the suggestion. "Honestly Irgnir, we may not be having nightmares anymore but there's still a killer on the loose. First Silas, then Beitild, and I'm still not completely sure on the circumstances surrounding Erandur."

Roseline lowered her head as Irgnir patted her shoulder, Erandur had been a regular at Windpeak Inn and over time he became a treasured friend to Roseline.

"He may be gone but if the stories are right then he died to protect all of us."

She sat there in thought as Irgnir continued on, recounting the story everyone had been told. A stranger had arrived in town shortly before the end of the nightmares, he had accompanied Erandur on a journey towards Nightcaller Temple and when he returned the nightmares were gone but Erandur was dead. Supposedly he had sacrificed himself for the good of the town. For some reason every person around clung onto the words of the stranger as the unbridled truth. She understood in a way he was a man to be marveled at, he was obviously well traveled and had seemingly been all over Skyrim. There were even rumors that he had released Solstheim from their trance-like state. There were rumors of all kinds, that this person had destroyed the world-eater, fought dragons and giants alike single handed, that no warrior, beast, or automaton could stand against him.

There was more though. It was rumored that this man was the leader of the fabled Thieves guild deep to the south in Riften that terrorized the whole country. Many tales had been spun that he was instrumental to the Dark Brotherhood and had gone through as a one man army and obliterated the Penitus Oculatus. Not only on the Katariah but the entire battalion that destroyed the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary near Falkreath. If those weren't impressive and terrifying enough this man had supposedly made history by assassinating the emperor. These were just the beginnings of the boons whispered in the dark about the mysterious and alluring stranger.

A sharp smack on the arm brought Roseline back to earth and she gave Irgnir a small smile of apology. "It's late Rose go home and get some sleep."

The two shared a quick hug and headed towards their own houses. Nights had been rather eerie ever since Roseline had moved into Silas's house. They had become friends and afterwards they had taken to the bed together a handful of times and for some reason Silas saw fit to bequeath her his house in the event of his death. It was odd but she decided just to thank the nine anyway. She may as well move on down to the shivering isles had she turned down a house of her own in place of sleeping in the back room of the inn.

She was heading towards the building when she suddenly decided that she just couldn't face the house yet. All of Silas's things were still up and acting as a museum and it all just seemed like one huge shrine to him and made her shiver. She decided to take a walk along the water, it was fairly cold but she was used to it by then.

The moons shone bright reflecting off of the sea and the snow like a fire in the sky. Roseline had never been this far from town by herself so late and suddenly all that she said to Irgnir about the killer came back to her. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as she started to panic. She quickly turned around to run back to town when the sight of a shadow stopped her. Leaning against the rocks hidden in an enclave a large nord stepped out of the shadows. From the looks of him he was some sort of bandit or mercenary he stepped close to her as he spoke, "Well, well what do we have here? A pretty little thing to go with my mead and skooma, you're about to wish you never would have came here."

Everything was a blur she couldn't focus on any single particular thing it all just ran together. Why was this happening to her? She always considered herself a good person, sure she was a little quick to jump into bed with men she didn't know well and yes she occasionally pocketed a few septims for herself but none of that justified this.

He didn't hold back anything, her body felt so many different sensations. She looked a short distance away and saw her garments laying on the ground as she felt the snow mold around her exposed body, she could feel heat radiating from him his weight smothering her as he slammed her face into the ground again. She became numb, she just wanted to forget this was happening, maybe just maybe once he was done he would just let her go and move on. If he didn't it wouldn't be so bad though, yes her regulars would miss her as well as Irgnir but that was it, she had no family no real friends nothing. She closed her eyes as tight as they would go and felt tears running down her face practically freezing from the cold as he penetrated her over and over again, she felt ashamed and violated and all she wanted was to be back in her Inn pouring mead.

He finally started to remove himself from her, she was battered and bruised. He had thoroughly beaten her before violating her. She laid there still as could be hoping that maybe he would just leave. He stood over her staring at her before he started laughing at her. She looked up just in time to see his large boot swing at her landing a hard blow in her gut.

"They told me just to kill you, but hey what they don't know won't hurt them." He started pacing around her like a Sabercat about to strike, she didn't know what to say. Someone had ordered this? Who would do such a thing? She just laid there staring at him eyes wide in shock.

"Speechless huh? Fine." He knelt down towards her and whispered in her ear, "next life around don't go bedding every man you come across, maybe you'll live longer." She felt a knife plunge deep into her gut. She went into a state of shock, this is how it would end, a cruel death all because of an unfaithful man. She didn't even know any of them were betrothed. The knife twisted and wiggled as he toyed with her, prolonging her agony. She let out an anguished scream as he smiled at her, his eyes cold and dead. He hoisted up her naked body and carelessly through her into the sea. At least the sky would be a beautiful last sight to see.


	2. Chapter 2

Lying in the sea Roseline used what strength she had to turn herself over, honestly if she was going to die she would rather it have been from freezing to death than drowning. The water was particularly still so she never strayed far from the shore, she had watched the Nord leave not long ago.

The air around her started to feel warm, she knew that wasn't a good sign. As she felt death approaching she knew this wasn't how she was supposed to end, she didn't deserve it and it wasn't good enough for her. She couldn't move and when she tried to scream her voice came out in such a raspy tone anyone hearing it may have mistaken her for a Hagraven; she was never a believer in much but in that moment she tried everything she could think of. She prayed to the nine, she spoke out to the daedra, she was ready to give herself to Molag Bal or even Namira if she had to. From the corner of her eye Roseline saw a bundle of nightshade floating in the water near her and the moon reflecting all around her reminding her of candles, the story _"A Kiss, Sweet Mother"_ was brought to her memory; it came to her that maybe, just maybe, with the injuries she had sustained and the placement of everything she could become her own Black Sacrament. She began to whisper frantically to herself the words that she had memorized when she became infatuated by the Dark Brotherhood and their practices.

"Sweet mother sweet mother send your child unto me for the sins of the unworthy have been baptized in blood and fear."

Over and over again she whispered the forbidden prayer in hopes that someone, anyone, would come to her aid. She began to realize that it was a useless endeavor she would die there and she only wished at that point that it would come faster. As she waivered out of consciousness she saw a flash of red beside her; she looked up as well as she could, her vision blurred, and saw that next to her was the same stranger that she believed had killed Erandur. He smiled down at her with what was either a truly sincere or a truly cocky glint in his eye.

"Well, it's not the traditional Black Sacrament but I guess it works well enough when you're dying so damn close to the sanctuary." He briskly picked up Roseline and carried her towards a door she had never noticed before.

The rest of the night was just flashes in Roseline's mind and she was sure she was dreaming, there appeared to be an entire set up for living quarters nestled into the mountain ready for dozens of people. As she was transported through the area she attempted to take note of her surroundings and the people gawking at her but she couldn't bring herself to stay awake long enough to see much, she mostly just remembered seeing the stranger she was so wary of along with a Redguard man. There were other people down there to that she didn't recognize but what caught her off guard the most was the little girl. She couldn't grasp most of what she was saying but what she did hear was far out of the capabilities of a child to grasp, especially so when the little girl was the one who did the alchemy and magic that saved Roseline's life.

She woke up the next morning in her bed she was sore and tousled she had not slept well and the dream hadn't helped one bit, it was the oddest one she'd had ever since Erandur died. She went to hop out of bed to go to Windpeak when a searing pain in her gut dropped her to her knees. No. That's all she could think was no. It couldn't have been real. She didn't want it to be real.

"You'll have to be careful, Babette is good but she's no miracle worker, had Festus still been around you could've skipped up to Winterhold and back and only have to worry about pissing off a dragon, Babette has done his memory great honor though."

Roseline jumped away from the voice causing her to drop to the floor again as she looked around frantically for who was in her house. Finally her eyes settled on a chair in a dark corner of the room where the stranger was sitting and drinking mead staring at her with amusement in his eyes.

"Yes it all happened. I'm sorry but it did. Now we need to have a talk. I can see your future and no I don't need to speak to Olava for it, you're going to be a great addition to our ranks."

He smiled as he stood in front of her holding out his hand to help her up. He wrapped his arm around her waist for support her and led her out of the house back towards the mountain where the door was. She couldn't figure out what she had gotten herself into all because of a damned walk. As they neared the bend in the mountain where Roseline remembered the door being the stranger suddenly stopped.

"What's going on I thought we were going back to that place?"

The stranger laughed at Roseline's concern he seemed completely charming though she still didn't trust him. He pointed towards a carriage that she hadn't noticed and motioned for her to get in.

"Where do you intend on taking me?"

Her frustration was growing as he stood there wordlessly expecting her to climb into the carriage for him to take her God's know where, she was considering heading back to town when a stab in her stomach reminded her of the night before. Not only was she wary of journeying back by herself she wasn't in much condition to keep walking not to mention the fact that if he wished her harm then he could have simply left her for dead the night before.

She huffed in defeat and allowed him to help her into the back of the carriage where they immediately took off heading away from town. She questioned the stranger constantly as to where they were going and what they were doing but she got little more than a smirk or a one word response from him. They continued down for over a day, it wasn't a very smooth ride and her wounds didn't take to the trip well but eventually they found themselves outside of a small building in the middle of the woods. Roseline looked around, it was beautiful, she herself had never been far from Dawnstar where the weather was always miserable, she took in her surroundings and noted that while there was a distinctive chill as the snow wasn't far there was blue skies and orange leaves surrounding her; she could hear the animal calls all around her and the mountain air seemed to partially revive her spirit. This was a place she could definitely grow to love.

She watched as the stranger climbed out of the carriage and she noticed that his demeanor had changed, he seemed much more serious now and it made her wary. He continued his silence as he walked towards the door.

"Sir are you going to subject me to many more days of silence?"

He froze with his hand on the key and chuckled slightly as he looked over his shoulder at her with a glint in his eye.

"Well it is the music of life."

With that he pushed the door open and disappeared inside leaving her to her own. She thought for a moment before whispering to herself and heading inside.

"He's right, silence is the music of life."

As Roseline walked into the building she was instantly hit with a sense of panic, she couldn't pay attention to anything in the room as she limped in and immediately noticed the main thing in the room: A single man sat kneeling on the floor with a bag on his head. Roseline stopped in her tracks and looked around until she saw the stranger sitting at a table in the corner.

"This is it Roseline, this is a moment that will decide your destiny, this is a moment that can change everything. This isn't exactly tradition but it is how I got my start and it is the way I like to do things."

She wanted to laugh at how serious he was but she just couldn't as everything about this situation said that he was right, she wanted to ask a thousand questions but only one could come to her mind.

"How do you know my name?"

"I know a lot of things. What you need to know right now is you have a decision to make. I'm going to put this very simply: kill him. Don't question it, don't fight it, don't think about it, just kill him."


End file.
